Has the expiry date on Agile just been set? (CLARIFICATION)
George Malamidis, June 15th, 2006This blog is, among other things, a ThoughtBlog and I would like to clarify a few of the things that I mentioned in my post on Lean Software Development as a possible evolution to Agile, that might have given the wrong impression about TW’s state and stand on Agile at the moment.
It has been rightfully pointed out to me that some of the things that I’ve said might be misinterpreted as saying that “internally, TW leaders are talking about their projects failing because of the methods they use, and they are giving up on Agile”. This, of course, is not the case. From what I see every day, I’d like to believe we are practicing Agile in a way that is rewarding both to our clients and our teams. We also cherish our status as innovators, spotting trends early - hence Lean as a possible evolution to Agile - and constantly aim to enhance our practices and methodologies for the benefit of everyone involved with TW, either as a client or as an employee.
June 15th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
I wouldn’t even say Lean is an evolution of Agile. Lean has been around longer than Agile. Lean, TOC, context-driven testing, HCI, etc. are all useful things to inject into the community that identifies itself as “Agile”.
What Roy’s talking about is pretty much that the *idea* of “Agile” is no longer a differentiator. I would say that the execution of “Agile” will always be. In manufacturing circles, “Lean” is a buzzword. Check the Evolving Excellence blog entries on bankrupt Shingo Prize winners. This doesn’t mean there aren’t important and interesting things to take from Lean and incorporate into what we do and how we describe what we do.